The present invention relates to wheel covers for vehicles and, in particular, to a wheel cover having a novel retention structure.
Plastic wheel covers are very desirable since they permit distinctively designed parts to be made at relatively low cost, even with low production volumes. Further, plastic wheel covers have a low weight, and can be readily finished in a number of ways such as plating and/or painting to create an infinite variety of styles. Such covers typically include plastic projections projecting from the rear surface thereof, the projections defining fingers which engage and grip a lug nut or the vehicle wheel.
However, plastic is a relatively low strength material which tends to relax and/or creep over time and with high temperature, and further tends to become brittle over time and with low temperature. The integral plastic fingers weaken and/or break over time, thus reducing their grip on the lug nuts while in service. Also, a plastic wheel cover expands at a different rate of thermal expansion than the vehicle wheel to which it is attached, further aggravating the aforementioned problems. These problems have resulted in high warranty costs from failed plastic wheel covers, and have resulted in customer dissatisfaction from failed or lost wheel covers. Attempts to -resolve these problems have led to increases in the cost and complexity of retention systems to secure the wheel covers to the wheel.
Thus, an improved wheel cover is desired for solving the aforementioned problems.